Post Red
by wimmer511
Summary: A year after Red John's death, Lisbon runs into Jane unexpectedly. He intends on keeping a promise he made her before leaving, despite her protestations and the presence of Walter Mashburn in her life. It is an A.U., but not extreme. It will be very in canon.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome to my new fic. As the title suggests it's a story that takes place after Red John is dead and gone. This first chapter is a little angsty, but this should be a comedy mostly. Enjoy!**

* * *

Post Red

Rain fell on the Sacramento streets in a way Lisbon hadn't seen in years. It was as if someone had turned a bucket of water upside down in the city. She might have enjoyed it if she weren't currently in it getting soaked. She blamed Jeff Olsen, the man she was now convinced was responsible for his business partner's death. He had decided to resist arrest by running, and she was suffering from the consequences.

She raced down the back alley, behind his place of business, with water running into her eyes when he suddenly turned on her. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened to her, men often thought they could get the drop on her because she was so much smaller than them, but she'd learned that the best way to handle it was to simply plow them down. And it became more imperative that she do so when they pulled weapons on her. He barely had time to lift the gun before she slammed into him and knocked him into the gutter right behind him with a big splash.

His gun flew from his hand, but he was determined and managed to get a blow to her ribs in with his elbow, knocking her to the ground next to him. She gasped at the sudden rough impact, but as he stood up she grabbed his foot and brought him to the ground again. She kept moving and practically leapt onto his back, pulling his arms behind him as she shoved his head into a small puddle of water in the concrete.

She pushed aside her water logged jacket and removed her handcuffs. "Jeff Olsen, you are under arrest for the murder of Kevin Jacobson, resisting arrest and assaulting an officer."

She read him the rest of his rights as Rigsby ran up behind her. Jeff Olsen started cussing as Rigsby helped her pull him to his feet. He was bleeding from his temple.

"You okay, boss?" Rigsby asked.

She nodded. "I'm fine."

"I'm bleeding!" Mr. Olsen hollered.

Lisbon shoved him forward, then tried unsuccessfully to wipe a stream of water from her brow. "Yeah, well maybe you shouldn't have resisted arrest."

"You should pray that Agent Cho doesn't find out you she had to tackle you," Rigsby said as Lisbon pushed Mr. Olsen to him.

"Don't you dare tell him," she said as Rigsby grabbed Mr. Olsen's cuffs. He nodded at her before leading Mr. Olsen up the street. Everyone feared an angry, protective Cho.

Lisbon scowled as she tried to pry her wet shirt from her skin, then winced when the movement made her side ache. Despite herself she started thinking about the nice weather they were having in Malibu, and for the first time since she found out she was going there this weekend, feeling glad for it. Besides, it was a big city, there was no way she'd see Jane. It wasn't like he'd tethered himself to Malibu. As far as she knew, which she admitted wasn't much, he hadn't been there at all in the last year. She had nothing to worry about.

* * *

It was still raining heavily by afternoon when the mail arrived in Lisbon's office. Both Rigsby and she had been grateful that they kept overnight bags at the office and had changed into dry clothes as soon as they'd gotten back. Jeff Olsen wasn't so lucky and Lisbon wondered if the state would allow them to douse suspects before interrogating them. Cho had pulled a confession out of Mr. Olsen in record time and she was sure part of that had to do with the fact that he was wet and cold. As far as she was concerned it served him right.

She checked herself out in the mirror when she got back, horrified to see that she had a huge black and blue bruise covering her side where she'd been elbowed. She'd taken a pain killer and promptly pushed it out of her mind.

Hours later it was still hurting, but she was determined to remain placid about it. She started going through her mail when a brightly colored post card, with a picture of Hawaiian dancers on the cover, caught her eye. She pulled it out and turned it over, smiling slightly, then frowning after seeing who it was from. Not that she'd been particularly surprised; he'd sent a postcard to the team once a month since he'd left. She felt her teeth grinding, but forced herself to relax. She took a couple deep breaths, plastered a smile on her face and walked out to the bullpen, postcard in hand.

"Jane sent us a post card," she announced stopping at Grace's desk before turning to face Cho and Rigsby.

Grace smiled as Lisbon handed her the card. Lisbon had read the first three he'd sent out loud, but after that she'd started delegating.

"Has it been a month already?" Rigsby asked.

Cho nodded. "What's it say?" he asked Grace.

She shook her head and started reading. "Dear Team, I find myself in lovely Hawaii, enjoying the sun, and relaxed atmosphere. They have the most delicious mango tea here that teases your taste buds and I found an amazing dinner that makes an egg salad sandwich to die for. As a matter of fact I'm eating one right now. This is the first time I've ever been to Hawaii and I'm finding I rather enjoy it. Maybe I'll stay here forever. At very least for the next week. I miss you all and hope you are doing well. Sincerely, Patrick Jane. P.S. Never forget."

Rigsby licked his lips. "Why does he always have to tell us what he's eating?"

Lisbon was at no loss as to why he did that. It was his way of making sure she knew he was eating. She'd never told the team that though, nor had she told them why he always added the, seemingly random, post script. They asked about it the first couple of times, but after she'd denied knowing what it meant both times they decided to let it go. She was glad they had, because she didn't want to think about it.

Grace grabbed a piece of tape and tapped the post card on the glass next to her desk with the others. "Wow," she exclaimed, counting the cards. "He's been gone a year. I thought he'd be back by now."

"When was the last time you talked to him?" Cho asked.

She shrugged. "I can't remember," she lied. It was six months ago. She'd stopped answering when he called, but it wasn't like he called all that often. Once for every two postcards.

"Too bad he won't be in Malibu this weekend," Grace said. "If he were, you could meet him and ask if he were planning on coming back or not."

Rigsby sat up at that. "Or find out what he wants to do with his couch."

Lisbon glanced over her shoulder at the familiar brown couch and felt a chill run up her spine. It was the only real reminder they had left of Jane. She'd insisted it stay put, but lately seeing it only caused her pain. Now was no different.

"When do you want to go?" Cho asked her, dragging her out of her thoughts.

He had insisted on taking her to the airport. He'd more or less taken over the job of caring for her when Jane left. He'd always been awesome, but he was on a whole new level now. He frequently took Lisbon to lunch, asked her how she was sleeping, and fussed over her whenever she was injured. The office had even started a betting pool over whether or not they were sleeping together. They bet was completely ridiculous, of course, but she thought it even more so because he was still as stoic and quiet as he'd ever been with her. At least the one with Jane had made some sense.

She looked at her watch. "I should probably go now. Rigs, Grace, you can go home when you finish whatever you're working on."

"Are you sure?" Grace asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, it's the weekend and since I'm out of town until Monday we won't be on call."

"I wish I were going on vacation," Grace said.

"I hear the weather is nice in Malibu," Rigsby told her almost wistfully.

Lisbon raised a hand. "It's not a vacation. Walter Mashburn called the director and insisted that I go to his fundraiser. I'd take the rain over Walter," she told them, even though she wasn't being totally honest. She wanted the sunshine, but was nervous about seeing Mashburn. It'd been years after all.

"I thought you liked Mashburn. Or he likes you…" Cho stood up and grabbed his coat.

"Walter's fine, I guess." She shrugged. "See you Monday," she said to Rigsby and Grace on her way out of the bullpen.

Cho followed her into her office and grabbed her weekend bag that she'd set next to her couch, as she put her jacket on. She fought the urge she had to tell him she'd carry it. She learned better in the last year. It really was a good thing he didn't know that Mr. Olsen had hurt her.

"Did you pack what I told you?" Cho asked as they waited for the elevator.

Her brow furrowed, he'd come over to her house during the week and helped her pick out what clothes to take with her. She hadn't thought anything about it until early the next morning. She woken up at three A.M. and wondered why in the hell he'd done that and why she'd let him. Then worried about how natural it'd been despite that they'd never done anything like it before.

"Yeah," she took a deep breath before continuing. "I did."

"Good." He hadn't noticed her snipped tone.

* * *

Lisbon walked though the Hilton and to the restaurant in the main lobby. The hotel assured her that they made excellent strawberry covered waffles and even though this wasn't technically a vacation, the CBI had paid for her flight and Walter had insisted on paying for her room so that she couldn't use expense as reason not to come, she decided she was going to splurge a little. It was well after nine when she'd arrived at the hotel last night and she'd gone right to sleep, skipping dinner entirely, and because of that she was starved now.

She was just glad that Cho hadn't remembered to ask her if she'd eaten when he texted her lat night to make sure she'd arrived safely. He was like having a protective older brother. She was still getting used to it. She'd spent her entire life taking care of other people that she wasn't quite sure how to take this. Although, if she was being fair, Jane had always taken care of her as well, maybe not as extensively, but he had.

After she ordered she started people watching. Cho had insisted that she take the white sundress that he'd found at the back of her closet. She'd purchased it a couple of years ago, but had never worn it. She'd put it in her bag, but the next morning she replaced it with the jeans and t-shirt she was wearing now. He'd told her that she needed to get out more, go on dates. That's why he'd insisted on the dress, but she couldn't imagine a dress helping her with that.

Besides, she wasn't as hopeless as he seemed to think she was. As a matter of fact, she'd gone on a date a few weeks ago. They hadn't clicked, but she was getting out, sort of. She slumped back in her chair and looked at her glass of water. _Okay, _she had to admit, _I'm pathetic. _

She looked around the restaurant again and saw the side of a man sitting at a booth, only a few seats away from her. She didn't have a great view, could really only see a little of the side and back of him, she couldn't even see his head, but something about him caught her attention. He was wearing jeans and a light blue t-shirt and had great arms. She smirked, pleased that she wasn't so broken she couldn't at least enjoy an attractive man…or buff arm. Whatever.

She looked back at her table, picked up her water and took a sip as a waiter walked up to the man's table and asked him if she could get his drink order.

"Yes," he said. "Do you have Oolong tea?"

Lisbon spat her water out, slid to the edge of her booth, and glanced around the edge of the man's booth, then slammed back into her own booth again, barely noticing the pain shooting up her side.

"Absolutely," the waitress said.

_Blond curls! Jane! _

"Perfect, I'll have that and some loosely scrambled eggs on rye toast with one slice of bacon and one sausage. Thanks," Jane told the waitress, who winked at him before walking away.

Lisbon felt herself scowling at the pretty waitress before she surveyed the restaurant for an escape. It only took her a moment before she saw that the only way out was to walk right past him. She decided to risk it, better than waiting for him to notice her. She'd just have to walk to the far end of the restaurant before going past his table. There were several tables between them and if she covered her face with her jacket as she passed, she could probably walk right out.

She stood and made her way to the far side of the restaurant before crossing toward the exit. She stuck her arm though her jacket as she passed his table, effectively covering her face and could now see the exit. She was going to make it.

"Lisbon?" she heard from behind her as she was about to pass through the doors.

She stopped in her tracks, closed her eyes and breathed out, before turning and forcing a smile. "Jane?"

He had gotten out of his booth and was moving in her direction with the mega-watt smile she'd once gotten used to, but was now making her feel a little weak in the knees. Plus he looked amazing in jeans and a t-shirt, she couldn't ever remember seeing him like that before and she was pissed at how amazing he looked. _Damn him. _

"What are you doing here?" she asked, not expecting that once he reached her he'd throw his arms around her and bury his face in her hair. She felt her body go stiff as his hold on her tightened. She patted him awkwardly on the back.

He pulled back, keeping her shoulders in his grasp and looked at her. "You look wonderful."

"I thought you were in Hawaii," she said smiling. _You were supposed to be in Hawaii! Not in my hotel eating breakfast!_

"I left a few days ago. I've been needing to take care of some things here, so I came home early," he explained.

Her stomach twisted at his use of the word "home". Malibu was his home, not Sacramento. "Ah," was all she could manage. She'd imagined what it'd be like to see him again hundreds of times, all in the first six months he'd been gone, of course, and none of her imaginings were anything like this. Granted, she had spent the last six months effectively not thinking of him.

"Were you leaving?"

She shook her head, then thought about it and nodded. "Yeah, I'm on my way out. Things to do, people to see."

He smiled at her, and she knew immediately that he knew she was lying. "Come sit with me," he requested. It felt more like an order though. "I'd love to catch up."

She looked over her shoulder toward the exit, trying to come up with some sort of excuse, but before she could lock her mind around one, he'd slid his hand down her arm, grabbed her hand and started pulling her toward his table.

He slowed momentarily when he saw a waitress and called out to her. "Could you bring her breakfast to my table and put it on my tab, please."

The waitress nodded, and Lisbon glared. He didn't even have the decency to pretend he hadn't known she was trying to make a run for it. He kept hold of her hand until she was sliding into her side of the booth, then released it to sit down himself. It was a moment before either of them spoke.

"So, how have you been?" he asked as they lifted their drinks in unison and took a sip. He smile grew and Lisbon's brow furrowed. She didn't even want to think what that was about.

Warmth filled her, and while it had initially been a pleasant feeling, she was now irritated by it. "I'm good. The team's good. We still have the highest closure rate in the state," she said feeling proud. It was true, not as high as when Jane worked with them, but still much higher than any other team. "We get asked for a lot, which is irritating, but I guess that's part of the job."

"The team that caught the notorious Red John, is it any wonder you get asked for frequently?" he inquired with a raise of his brow.

She dropped her head to avoid his gaze. He had been part of that team. "Yes, well. That's the nature of the beast, I suppose."

He reached across the table and took her hand in his. "I've missed you, Teresa," he whispered.

She scoffed. "Sure."

His brow furrowed and she was a little pleased that she'd wiped his annoying smile off his perfect face. "You know I did. Every day."

The waitress arrived then with their food and she took this opportunity to pull her hands back and place them in her lap. Jane thanked the waitress, before she walked away and Lisbon couldn't help but notice the dirty look the girl gave her as she left. _If only the girl knew what I'd saved her from,_ she thought as she picked up her own utensils.

"I am glad I ran into. Grace was just saying that it was a shame you wouldn't be here so I could ask if you were planning on coming back," she said just before she shoved a bite of strawberry, whip cream and waffle into her mouth.

Jane looked up at her startled. She felt her chin pull back and quickly replayed her words in her head. She thought it was fine, unless of course he assumed she knew he wouldn't be coming back and was horrified at the notion of having to tell her that.

He sat his utensils down, took a sip of his tea. It was then that she noticed his ring was gone. The skin around his finger had even darkened a little too. It was still lighter than the rest of his hand, but she she figured her probably would have had to have gone months without it, for the tan to be fading so much. He'd taken it off. Never in a million years had she ever thought he'd actually do that. It took her a moment to realize he'd spoken to her. She pulled her eyes away from his hand and looked him in the eyes.

"Huh?" she asked.

He spoke as if her response wasn't unusual. "What did you tell her?" He sat his tea down.

Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember the string of the conversation. She had to shake her head before it came back to her. "Oh, Grace? Nothing, you weren't supposed to be here, so it was moot." She felt her eyes flick to his ring finger again.

"What would you have said?" he demanded.

Her shock immediately vanished and she was irritated once again. Only Jane could have her emotions whipping around like a trick roper in a rodeo. She forced herself to relax and answer calmly. "I don't know what I would have said."

She thought that seeing him mad would be vindicating, but it didn't, she just felt empty.

"I told you I was coming back, Teresa," he said through gritted teeth. "Never forget…"

She sat forward. "You say a lot of things, and I was never very good at knowing what was what with you. Which, by the way, you used to like to remind me of on a near daily basis." His face dropped, but she continued. "It's been a year, and frankly time away from you has done nothing to improve my ability to tell when you're being sincere."

"Teresa…"

Her jaw clenched tightly for a moment. "I wasn't trying to make you feel bad," she said honestly. "I'm glad that you seem to be moving on with your life. I've only ever wanted you to be happy. You are happy, aren't you?"

He sighed. "I'm getting there."

She felt a pang in her stomach, but forced a smile. "You look good. I never thought I'd see you in jeans and a t-shirt, but I guess there's a first time for everything."

He chuckled and puffed his chest out at her admiring gaze. "I do feel a little like a fish out of water, but I'm headed over to my house today to do some yard work and I figured a three piece suit probably wouldn't be the best idea."

She laughed at the image of Jane pulling weeds in his pin stripped suit. "I think you made the right choice. So, you're staying in the hotel?"

"I'm having the inside of the house painted." His smile was contagious and she found herself smiling in earnest. He continued, "I didn't think it'd be healthy to sleep there with all the fumes."

"Not just looks, but brains too, huh?" she teased.

He raised his hand to face and cupped around his mouth before whispering, "Don't tell anyone or the gig will be up."

She rolled her eyes. "Heaven forbid."

"This is nice," he said after a moment.

Her stomach lurched. It was nice, but here he was painting a picture for her that more than suggested he was intending on staying in Malibu and that he'd already moved on with his life, and she was the fool who was allowing him to draw her back in. She could already see the months ahead of her having to pretend she was fine when all she would really want to be doing is ripping out her insides so she could stop feeling so damned much. Why couldn't she have thought of an excuse when she first tried to leave.

"I'd better get going," she said reaching for her wallet. "I actually do have things that I need to get done today."

"You haven't finished your breakfast," Jane pointed at her plate.

She glanced down at her waffle, then at his eggs. They'd both been completely forgotten. "It's cold. I'm actually not as hungry as I thought, anyway," she said throwing a ten onto the table as she stood up.

He stood as well and grabbed her arm and she tried not to wince by being slightly jostled. "Are you busy tonight?" he asked.

She glanced at his hand on her arm, then up to his face, ignoring the immediate increase of her heart beat. "Yes. I'm here for work and I'm afraid they have me detained for the evening." She started to leave when she made an abrupt decision. "If you're ever in Sacramento again, come by. I know the team would be happy to see you." She smiled kindly at him as he removed his hand from her arm and shoved it into his pocket.

He tilted his head to the side a little. "I think it's important that we…"

"Goodbye, Jane." She forced herself to make eye contact and shivered at the intensity of his hurt gaze before turning and exiting the restaurant.

She went immediately back to her room and pulled her phone from her pocket. She was a little irritated but not at all surprised when the ten she'd left on the table fell out of her pocket. She dialed Cho and he answered immediately.

"Everything all right?" he asked.

She shrugged, perplexed that he always imagined the worse even though he didn't have a basis for it. "Yes, fine. I want you to move Jane's couch into storage for me. If you need to replace it with filing cabinets that's fine."

"Sure thing, Boss," Cho said. He was still a man of few words and she was pleased that he didn't feel a need to ask her why she'd suddenly decided to do it. "Have you eaten?"

She flopped back onto her bed. Now if he'd just stop worrying about whether or not she'd eaten.

* * *

**A/N: I'd love to know what you think. The last chapter of In the Details should be up tomorrow. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I was surprised to see the reception this story got. Thank you so much! It occurred to me three or so weeks ago that at the end of this season we'll know what Jane does after Red John's gone, and fic's like this won't be so common. I always love the fics where he leaves and they find each other again, so I thought I'd better write one before we know what actually happens. Haha! The beginning of the chapter is a little angsty, but I'm now working it toward my original intent, which is humor. Enjoy!**

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Chapter 2

A year ago

The streetlight in front of Lisbon's apartment was out, but the moon was more than bright enough to see by. Jane stood with his hands in his pockets in front of her door for ten minutes before he felt brave enough to knock. So much had happened in the last forty-eight hours. He couldn't remember ever feeling so free and so stuck at the same time.

He took a deep breath, reached up and rapped out a soft rhythm on her door. He knew she was awake, even though it was past midnight and the lights were off in her house. How could she not be? He doubted anyone of the team would be sleeping much for the next little while.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and waited. It took her fifteen seconds to walk down her stairs, cross her living room and turn on her front room and porch lights. He watched the peephole waiting for it to go dark, then smiled when it did.

"Jane?" she questioned through the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Open up Lisbon, we need to talk," he replied.

In his mind's eye he could see her roll her eyes, step away from her door and take a deep breath. When she did open the door, seconds later, she glared at him. He stepped into her apartment, stopping by her door, as she shut and locked it again. He tried to focus on what he'd come here to say and not on the fact that her jersey was hanging off one shoulder, that her legs were bare, or that her hair was deliciously rumpled.

She turned to him and motioned to her couch. "Want to sit down?"

He shook his head.

She stared at him for a moment, then looked at the carpet. He knew she was losing patience with him, but he was finding it increasingly difficult to say what needed to be said the longer he was with her and he hadn't even been there for five minutes yet.

He took a deep breath and decided to just go for it. "I'm leaving."

Her brow furrowed. "Good, that's probably a good thing. Get out of town for a few days, get your bearings back." She scratched her arm. "But really, you couldn't wait to tell me this in the morning?"

"No, Lisbon. You don't understand." He reached forward and grabbed her shoulders, immediately regretting his decision to do so when his hand touched bare shoulder. "I'm leaving. Tonight."

"Oh," she swallowed, but kept her demeanor calm. "Well thanks for letting me know. When will you be back?"

Jane opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. Instead he simply held eye contact with her. He watched as her chin pulled back and saw the exact moment she figured it out. Her face went from forced calm to distressed in a split second and she started shaking her head. "No," she said.

He felt sick to his stomach. For years he had dreamed what it'd be like after he killed Red John. The tremendous weight of guilt and anguish he'd been carrying around had vanished just as he thought it would, but it was replaced with another burden, just as heavy. He'd never imagined that he'd have to leave.

"The media is having field day with this," he hunched down to look her in the eye, "and the Bureau isn't pleased either." He hoped that she would understand him.

"So you're running," she choked out. "La Roche is over our case, Jane. He already said that we were completely justified in our actions and promised you…"

He felt his heart clench. "Because you lied for me," he said.

She didn't give him time to continue down this vein. "I didn't lie. You saved me and Rigsby by doing what you did."

What he did was stab Red John to death. He supposed it was true that he had acted in defense of others, but it wasn't stopping the media from digging where they shouldn't and in his heart of hearts he knew he would have killed him even if he hadn't been about to shoot Rigsby. Granted, looking back on it now, he wished he'd brought a gun. Stabbing someone was not a pleasant experience. It hadn't even helped that it was Red John.

No one was particularly unhappy that the infamous Red John was dead, what the bureau and the media didn't like was that an employee of the Bureau could do something that they considered totally cold blooded, despite the circumstances. He hadn't even brought a knife with him; he'd simply grabbed it and reacted. He could still see the blood flying as the knife plunged in over and over again. Rigsby and Lisbon literally had to drag him away.

And now the team was paying the consequences. The praise that the team had initially received for bringing down the killer was now being marred by his actions. Lisbon especially, because she was lauding his actions as nothing less than heroic, but apparently others were having a hard time seeing multiple stab wounds as heroic. As far as Jane could tell, the difference between the team and everyone else, is that they weren't focusing on how Jane had killed Red John, but on what Red John would've done had he not been killed. Jane saw himself neither way, he wasn't the out of control consultant that he was being painted as by the media and he was the hero the team was making him out to be either. Truth is he'd been in total control.

"I stabbed him nine times. He was dead after my first blow," he reminded her. Her eyes started to sparkle and she looked away. "I need space. I need to get away and figure out what my life holds from here on out. I need to come to grips with the fact that my old purpose for living is gone, and I need to do that away from the team, and away from you."

She gasped, then looked at him with all the fury she could muster, her tears were brimming her eyes now. "And what about the team, Jane? Don't we matter—don't I matter? This hasn't been easy for any of us, but you don't see Cho packing his bags and skipping out of town." She pointed a finger at him. "How would you feel if I showed up at your door in the middle of the night and told you that I couldn't be near you, that I had to leave in order to find myself again? Huh?" She jabbed a dainty finger in his chest, but he kept his hold on her shoulders. "How would that make you feel?"

"I'd feel horrible," he told her truthfully. He knew he'd taken her aback, but couldn't wait for her to interpret his meaning and plowed on. "You're my best friend. You've been pretty near everything that has meant anything to me since my family died. I don't want you to imagine for one second that this is easy for me. It's just something that I have to do."

A tear finally spilled down her cheek, and she reached up to wipe it hastily away. "Why do you have to do it?" she whispered.

"So I can be a better man, a man who deserves you and the team," he said. It took her a moment to register what he'd said, but before she could respond, he'd pulled her into fierce embrace. "I will be back."

"When?" she murmured against his shoulder.

He wished he knew, he wished he could give her a specific date, but he couldn't because he just wasn't sure when his presence in her life would be considered a good thing. "However long it takes," was all he could think to reply.

"I won't wait forever," she said then for his benefit added, "neither will the team." She wrapped her arms firmly around him in return reminding him for the millionth time why she was the center of his universe and why he needed to leave.

He pulled back and looked her in the eye. "When I come back you and I are going to have a long talk about…everything." He reached forward and tilted her chin up to make more than sure she understood. "Things are going to change. Do you understand me?" he asked.

She nodded and fisted the fabric of his shirt at his sides in her hands.

"I need to hear you say you understand," he said fiercely.

She squared her shoulders. "I need something from you first. An eye for an eye, Jane. I won't spend my life giving into you just because you tell me I should and just because I do most the time."

He saw the sincerity in her eyes. "All right. What do you want?"

"Your word," she said cleanly. Lisbon was one of the few people in the world who knew him at all well and one thing she knew was that while Jane frequently lied to and manipulated people, her included, she knew when he gave his word that he kept it. "But I don't want you to give it if you don't mean it or have reservations. If you say it, it better be because you feel it to your core. Otherwise you can go ahead and leave right now for all…"

"I promise," he said before she could finish. "I will be back. I'll be back for you. Never forget that. Now you."

She looked a little shell shocked and it took her a moment before she could respond and when she did, it was as if she couldn't really believe what'd just happened. "I understand," she replied. She wiped an errant tear from her eye. "Is this where we say goodbye?"

Jane shook his head. "No, because this isn't goodbye."

He reached for her hand and gave it a light squeeze. The months ahead wouldn't be pleasant for either of them, but they were necessary. He didn't worry so much for her; she had her job and the team to turn to. She'd be okay. Still, he had made her a promise and he knew that if he broke it, she'd never forgive him.

When he left he locked the image he had of her standing in her doorway, watching him walk to his car, and finally waving as he pulled out of her parking lot, firmly into his memory palace. He put it in a special room reserved just for her, a room he would visit often over the next year.

* * *

Present Day

Every seat at the bar was taken, which wasn't unexpected given it was an open bar. Jane stood at the end, between two people fiddling with his bowtie and waited for the cherry cola he'd ordered. The bartender gave him a look that suggested he thought he was crazy as Jane took his drink and asked with the enthusiasm of a child if he could have a cherry on top.

"Give it to him," a familiar voice said behind Jane.

He looked over his shoulder and smiled then turned his attention back to the bartender until he had his cherry. "Hello Walter," he said.

"Patrick," Walter returned before looking at the bartender. "I'll have a scotch on the rocks, Glenlivet, if you have it."

The bartender nodded as Jane turned to face Walter. "Aren't you looking roguish," Jane said as he took a sip of his drink.

Walter's chest puffed out as he grabbed the lapel of his tux. "Do you think so? I was going for James Bond?"

Jane smiled and stuck a hand in his own tux pocket. "Pretty close," he said.

Walter smiled and then grabbed his drink from the bartender before making a show of swirling it around in his tulip-shaped glass. He then smelled it and finally tasted it. Jane fought the urge to do the same thing with his cherry cola and settled for eating his cherry.

"I'm surprised to see you here," Walter said. "I wasn't even sure you'd received my invitation."

Jane rolled back on his heels. "I've had someone checking my mail for me."

"I heard about Red John." Walter shoved his own free hand into his pocket, subconsciously mirroring Jane. "I'm glad you were finally able to get the bastard. I admit though that I was disbelieving, shall we say, when I was told you'd left the CBI."

Jane shrugged. "It was unexpected for me as well. Although, I do believe my hiatus is over."

"You're going back?" Walter asked looking out over his party. Jane had to admit it was something to be seen, everyone was dressed in evening apparel and the rook itself was decorated with white and pink roses, small white Christmas lights hung across the ceiling and entryways and there was a live band. Walter had certainly gone all out.

"It's time. If they'll have me, of course," Jane said simply. "You haven't been inactive yourself since last I saw you. You earned another several billion dollars, bought another home in Europe and almost got married again."

Walter tipped his head to the side quickly before smiling. "You did your homework, I'm impressed."

"Thank you," Jane said.

Walter looked quickly at Jane and his smile faded. "You don't think Teresa will hold that against me, do you?"

Jane smiled. "Only one way to find out. Is she here yet?"

Walter nodded. "I was told me as I headed over here that she'd just come in. I would've gone straight to see her, but how could I pass up a chance to say hello to my dear friend Patrick before my evening becomes otherwise engaged."

Jane felt his jaw tighten briefly.

Walter's brow furrowed. "How did you know she was going to be here?"

"I saw her this morning in the restaurant. Lisbon isn't the kind of woman who flies down to Malibu on vacation. She had to be here on business and since the rest of the team wasn't with her, your gala was the only logical explanation."

Walter smiled. "It's brilliant the way you read people. Does she know you're here?"

"Not yet," Jane said before taking a sip of his soda. "As a matter of fact I'll come with you. It'd be rude if I didn't at least say 'hello'."

Walter gave Jane a curious glance, before Jane grabbed his arm briefly so he could move him away from the bar. The two made their way through the crowd, being stopped often by Walter's friends and adoring fan club, but it wasn't long before Jane picked Lisbon out in the crowd.

She wore a dark emerald dress that neared black in color with capped lace sleeves and a lace back that he could see her skin through, the body of the dress cinched at her waist and flowed out from there and was satin and she wore black suede high heels that gave her an extra four inches. Her hair was pulled up into a twist and bangs hung to the side over her forehead. Walter saw her a moment after he had and they both stopped, unwittingly, to look at her. She was a vision.

Walter handed his scotch to a passing waiter without looking at him and moved in her direction. Jane followed quickly and caught up before Walter reached her. She was in the middle of a conversation with a man who was clearly hitting on her, but she wasn't doing much to encourage him. The man saw Jane and Walter before she did and when she turned to see what the man talking her up was looking at, she immediately took a step back at their quick advance on her. Her chin pulled back as she looked at Jane, then Walter and then Jane once again.

"Teresa Lisbon," Walter said. "It's been too long." Before she could respond or before Jane had the opportunity to intervene in some way, Walter had moved in on her and was giving her a hug.

She didn't hug him back, only looked shell shocked, but she still managed to look at Jane over Walter's shoulder. Jane gave her a warm smile. When Walter pulled away he kept her shoulders in his grasp and she looked up at him.

"Walter, how are you?" she asked, and Jane was a little perturbed to see that she was genuinely curious.

"Much better now that you're here," Walter said with a twinkle in his eye that even Jane could see. "I'm thrilled you decided to come."

She smiled at him. "Now Walter, it's not like I had much choice in the matter, now did I?"

"You could've said no," he told her.

She scoffed. "Yeah right."

Jane lifted his glass to his mouth and took a loud sip of his soda. Both Teresa and Walter looked in his direction and Walter took a step back from her. Jane handed his drink to Walter without looking at him and moved in to give her his own hug. He saw Walter's face fall as he took his drink and as he moved forward, but he couldn't be bothered by that when the scent of honeysuckle mixed with another very clean smell was wafting off of Lisbon.

She responded to his hug, but was still hesitant. Jane decided not to let it bother him, because at least she'd hugged him back, with Walter her hands had stayed stiff at her sides. Jane turned his head into her hair. "You look lovely," he whispered into her ear, allowing his lips to graze her ear.

He felt her stiffen, felt her hands slide up his chest and then felt her slowly push him away. She was trying to be inconspicuous, but he had the feeling that if they'd been alone she would've shoved him back.

"I didn't know you were going to be here, Jane," she said. Her eyes still firmly fastened on his.

"Surprise." He shrugged with a small smile as he looked at her. It wasn't hard to tell that she was uncomfortable with his proximity with Walter standing right there, and even though he had the urge to make it clear, in no uncertain terms, that Walter should stay away from her, he was still desperate to fix things with Teresa, and she had never been one to be flattered by men trying to mark her as their territory. So, with some effort, he stepped back. He saw her face immediately relax, but he also saw her give him a quick uncertain glance.

This morning she had claimed that being away from him for a year had left her more clueless about his conduct than ever before, but he knew from that small facial expression that she was completely aware he'd done something uncharacteristic.

He watched as she looked uncomfortably between him and Walter. He knew he was staring, but it couldn't be helped. Aside from this morning he hadn't seen her in a year and he felt as though his eyes were gorging all they could after a yearlong Lisbon fast. It took a moment before he had his wits back, made only that much more difficult when she had started to blush, and he was about to ask her to dance.

"Could I persuade you to dance with me?" Walter asked beating him to the punch.

She sighed. "That would be nice, thank you," she responded. A small smile crossed her lips when Walter extended his free hand for her to take. He then shoved Jane's drink back at him and led Lisbon to the dance floor. Jane berated himself for not acting quicker.

As soon as he'd seen her this morning he'd come up with a scheme to get back in her good graces. As he watched Walter sweep her around the dance floor, he wondered why it hadn't occurred to him to factor in Walter as a distraction.

Two hours later, Jane hadn't even succeeded in getting a dance with her, let alone a moment alone to talk to her. Part of it was Walter, but Lisbon was the real difficulty. She took every opportunity to get as far away from him as possible. She'd insisted on Walter introducing her to people that Jane knew she didn't care about or to know, had used him as a distraction by telling everyone that he was a magician and had even taken over leading on the dance floor when she saw him coming, very ably moving her and Walter out of his path. He couldn't even be irritated by the last one, because Walter hadn't even realized she'd done it. It was very sneaky.

It was painfully clear that he'd been away too long. He'd thought that he was doing the right thing—that in the end things would be better off because of his absence. He'd even recently considered not going back to the CBI for another six months, despite the fact that the very idea had made him feel terribly homesick. Not that it mattered now, because it was no longer an option. The entire reason he left would be for nothing if he couldn't get her trust back, and he could already see that it wasn't going to be easy. Especially if she kept avoiding him like she was.

He saw her yawn behind her hand a couple times and knew it wouldn't be long before she started making her excuses, so he put another plan into action. He moved around to the side of the dance floor and sat at a small table with a couple of young ladies, striking up a conversation while Walter, once again, danced with Lisbon. The only positive thing that came from watching her dance with Walter, and the several other gentlemen she'd danced with, was seeing in her body language that she wasn't interested in him or anyone else. Sure she flirted a little, hard not to with a flirt like Walter, but she was definitely over him.

The song they were dancing to ended, but Walter kept on swaying back and forth with her and into the next song. Jane made sure to look as intent in his conversation with the young ladies as possible, while keeping a subtle eye on Lisbon. It took her a moment to recognize the song, but when she did, she visibly stiffened.

He made a joke that got both women at his table squealing with laughter while Lisbon looked frantically around the room for him. Jane could see that Walter was asking her if everything was all right, but she ignored him until her eyes landed on Jane. It was only then that Jane looked away from the young women and in Lisbon's direction. She looked horrorstruck. Jane smiled at her, then pretended he was only just hearing the song.

"Our song," he mouthed wordlessly.

The color drained from her face and she pulled away from Walter, but moved so that Walter effectively blocked her from Jane's sight. Jane stood up, not bothering to say good bye to the women at the table, and skirted the dance floor. When he finally got to a place where he could see her again, he watched her smile up at Walter and then make her way for the exit.

Jane followed her and saw her duck into the ladies room, but knew she was just trying to avoid him. He shook his head at her effort and marched in after her.

A woman exited as he went in and he nodded at her politely, then continued as though nothing were wrong. Lisbon stood hunched over one of the sinks, wetting her hand before she dabbed it against the back of her neck. Her eyes were closed so she didn't see him right away. She jumped when she opened her eyes. "Jane!" Her hand flew to her chest and she looked toward the door trying to decide if she could get past him.

He almost dared her to try, but in the end didn't have to because she'd figured it out on her own and was now glaring at him in reply. He smirked.

"This is the women's bathroom!" she snapped.

"That fact didn't escape my attention," he said.

"Well get out!" she pointed to the exit.

"Whither thou goest, I shall go," he said in a singsong voice that made her clench her jaw in fury.

He could see she was about to yell when a toilet flushed. Both their heads shot toward one of the stalls and they watched with very different emotions, as a very attractive woman, probably in her late thirties, Jane surmised, exited the stall. She looked between the two and smiled.

"I'm so sorry," Lisbon started, "he was just leaving."

"No I wasn't," Jane said evenly as he rolled back on his heels.

The woman looked at Jane and brazenly checked him out, before looking back at Lisbon and smiling. She made her way to the sink. "Honey," she addressed Lisbon as she started washing her hands, "if a man this good looking follows you into a restroom, do woman kind a favor and have your way with him in a stall, don't kick him out. How many chances like this do women our age get?"

Lisbon blushed furiously.

"Actually," Jane said through a broad smile, "she has another very eligible bachelor waiting at the party for her as well." Jane ignored the furious look Lisbon was sending in his direction as the woman turned to him.

"Well sweetie," she took a step closer to him, "if she picks the other guy, I'm in room 305." She winked and then sashayed out of the bathroom. When Jane looked back at Lisbon she was looking under the stalls to see if there were any more feet. When she stood tall, content that at very least there were no more eavesdroppers, he could see that she was working hard to control her anger and embarrassment.

"Busy body," she mumbled at the door as she turned off the faucet she'd been using and reached for a paper towel to dry her hands.

Jane smiled anew. "I don't know, I kind of like her."

"Who asked you?" she spat as she threw away her paper towel and crossed her arms. "Now, what do you want?"

Jane could feel himself getting irritated. "I want to know why you've been avoiding me all night." He'd spent the last year replaying every wonderful thing about her and in the process had apparently forgotten how angry she could make him.

Lisbon's face flushed. "I was hoping you would take a hint."

He felt his brow rise and his eyes get big. This was new. She'd chosen _brutal_ honesty. "Teresa?"

The angry expression she'd been wearing quickly vanished and was replaced with calm. She took a step toward him and took a deep breath. "I just don't see the point in pretending anymore. You and I were once really good friends and I will always cherish that. It's been a year, Jane, and I'm sorry, but a dozen postcards and three phone calls doesn't preserve…"

Jane cut her off. "If our friendship were ever real it would." His irritation immediately faded as anger started stirring in his stomach. He saw her jaw clench again and was glad to see that she wasn't as unaffected as she was trying to make herself out to be.

"I'm a different person than I was a year ago," she looked down at his left hand, "and it seems that you are as well." She made eye contact again. "I meant it when I said 'goodbye,' Jane. Please don't make this any more difficult than it has to be." She moved to pass him, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Change isn't always a bad thing," he said to her and felt her shiver against his hold. He looked at her face then and was surprised to see her frowning and her eyes sparkling with tears.

She pulled her arm roughly from his grasp. "No, it's not," she said sharply.

"What do you expect me to do, Teresa?" He faced her and then hunched down to look her in the eyes.

She gathered herself again. "I expect you to do whatever it is that will make you happy. I've said it a hundred times, Jane. I want you to be happy. Now please, don't follow me anymore."

She left the bathroom and Jane behind.

He was confused. He used to be able to read her so well, but this had been weird. How could she expect him to be happy if she wasn't in his life? It was a ludicrous idea. Everything she'd said to him had been sincere, which also didn't make any sense, because he was positive, now more than ever, that she was still in love with him. So, why then would she order him away?

He left the bathroom moments later when a woman came in and found him staring blankly at the door. She'd yelped, jerking him immediately out of his thoughts. He apologized and quickly ducked out.

When he came out of the restroom, he was just in time to see Walter hand something to Teresa, before she turned from him and made her way to the hotel elevators. Walter looked dumbfounded. It appeared that she'd left another one in her wake.

Jane sauntered up to Walter and stopped at his side, and the two men watched as Lisbon disappeared around a corner. It was then that Walter looked over at Jane.

"Patrick, there you are." He smiled. "You used to know Teresa better than anyone. What spooked her?"

Jane let out a sigh. He didn't see any point in lying to the man, besides he'd always liked Walter. "It was the song."

Walter's eyes went up as he thought back to what song had been playing. "More Than Words?" he asked finally.

Jane nodded. "Yes, _and_ it's been a stressful night for her."

"Stressful? How so?" Walter asked and Jane could see that not only had he not realized she was stressed, but also that he was concerned for her now that he learned she had been.

Jane shoved his hands in his pockets. "Well, she just spent the whole evening trying not to be awkward with a man she was once intimate with, while, at the same time, avoiding the man she loves." Jane looked at Walter in time to see realization cross his face, and then he added, "It's bound to have been a little stressful." Jane reached a hand out to Walter's shoulder and gently patted it before heading to the elevators himself.

* * *

**A/N: I'm loving this season so far, by the way. It's pretty intense, but so far ina good way. **

**Anonymous reviews:**

**Kakes: I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for the review!**

**Ilovetea: Thank you for the lovely compliment and for your review! I hope Post Red will live up to your expectations! **

**Guest: I was thrilled you noticed the push and pull between them. I feel like that happens in the show a lot, so I try to incorporate it. I'm glad you like Cho in this as well. I love Cho, he's great, and he's fun to write. Thanks for your review! **

**Guest: Ha! I'm glad you like the Lisbon Cho dynamic. I couldn't help myself, it just seemed to funny to pass. Thank you for your review. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I swear this seemed funny in my head, but it seems it's still coming off as pretty angsty. Hopefully this won't be too bad. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 3

With her overnight bag draped over her right shoulder and her high heels in her left hand, Lisbon pulled the door to her room closed and made her way toward the elevator. A small ding announced its arrival on her floor before she'd made it half way down the hall and despite the fact that she couldn't explain her sudden fear it was Jane she turned around, ran down the hall two rooms and ducked down the hall with the ice machine and stairs.

She heard footsteps move down the hall and in the direction of her room and held her breath when she heard a knock coming from the vicinity of her room. A moment later the knock sounded again.

"Lisbon, open up," the voice she tried and failed to forget said. "Please."

She felt her blood boiling. Not only had the insufferable man ignored her request to be left alone, he'd also found out what room she was staying in. Although, she had expected he would which was why she was sneaking out.

"Teresa," his voice was softer now, but she could still hear his plea, "let me in. I know you asked me to stay away, but I can't. You know I can't."

She knew it was a bad idea, an unnecessary risk at best, the stairs were right behind her after all, but she felt the sudden desire to see him, to see his face, so she stepped forward and peeked around the corner.

She felt her heart restrict in her chest as she took him in. His forehead was against her door his hair rumpled as though he'd been running his hands through it and his right hand was resting to the side of his face on the door. He was still wearing his tux and was tracing a pattern on the door with his pointer finger. She pulled back, afraid that if she looked at him any longer she go to him. She backed to the stairs, and stepped into the stairwell, making sure to shut the door quietly behind her, then headed up to Walter's room.

She was grateful for her foresight in this matter. She'd been broken hearted because of him enough to last her life time. She wasn't going to allow him another opportunity to hurt her, to make her believe that things would change when she knew from experience that would never happen.

* * *

A Month Ago

The restaurant Cho had picked for them to eat at wasn't one she'd been to before and it was a good twenty minutes from the office. They'd been going out to lunch together for the better part of a year, two or three times a week, and never once had either of them suggested a place more than a few minutes from HQ. He held the door open to Bangkok palace and allowed her to pass through first. The smell of curry hit her and she breathed in the delicious aroma, immediately hopping she wouldn't start drooling.

Cho told the host there was two for lunch and they were led to a small table by a window. Lisbon avoided his eye contact until they'd ordered. If she were being perfectly honest the entire situation was freaking her out a little. It was like he'd known she was craving comfort food. After her date last night, she needed all the comfort she could get, but still. She supposed Cho did know she liked Thai food, she'd said as much in the past, but this was all too coincidental.

Cho stared her down. She cringed a little, knowing this look. He used it frequently on suspects and criminals and also on her in the last several months. This was ridiculous, she was the boss here.

She pursed her lips. "What, Cho?"

"Your date last night sucked, didn't it?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest.

She gripped the edge of the table. "No! Wait, what? I didn't tell you I was going on a date yesterday."

"Van Pelt saw you meet Eric Fellows, from narcotics, after work," he said.

"For crying out loud!" She'd never been one for gossip and made it known to her team that she didn't approve and yet they gossiped more than any group of teenage girls she'd ever met. It was pathetic and worse, annoying.

"Well?" he persisted, ignoring her irritation.

"Yes, I went out with him, and it was fine," she said.

He just stared at her.

She wavered. "It wasn't great, but if he asks I'll go out with him again." She doubted Eric would ask her again. She hadn't been intentionally apathetic, but he'd had to ask her several times if she was all right when she'd zoned out on him. She could admit that she wasn't an expert on relationships, but having three brothers, having worked with mostly men her entire career and being a cop did give her an idea of what the male ego was and even she had to admit she'd bruised his. Not that she'd tell Cho that. He'd just worry.

"Do you think he'll ask you again?"

She shrugged. "I don't see why not," she lied, feeling immediately grateful that Cho couldn't read her as well as…

"You're lying." He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. "I saw Eric this morning. He told me that going out with you was tantamount to going out with someone who'd taken a vow of silence."

She looked at the table and scratched her head.

"Lisbon," Cho said immediately catching her attention. He always called her boss at work, but in the last five or so months he'd started calling her Lisbon when they were alone. When he wanted her to know that he was addressing a friend and not his boss.

She made eye contact and immediately felt guilty at the concern she saw etched over his features. It was always in moments when she desperately wanted his cool-indifference that he had started showing his freaking emotions. "What, Cho?" She sounded exasperated even to her own ears.

"You said you'd try," he reminded her.

She breathed out. "I did. There weren't any sparks, but you should be happy for me. I'm getting out of my apartment, I'm not sulking."

He ground his teeth. "You never sulk. That's not the problem. I'd be happy if you sulked. All you do is put up concrete, steel plated, Armageddon proof walls. Going through the motions of living isn't enough. You actually have to live."

It was impossible to be mad at him when he was like this. She had the feeling he wasn't this way often. She'd worked with him for over a decade and while she'd always felt his loyalty and trust, it wasn't often he ever showed this side. It was flattering and disarming and unnerving. "I am trying. It might take more than a date. I'll get there," she said. "I'll move on eventually. I promise."

He nodded and although she didn't think he seemed completely satisfied he was going to drop it for now.

* * *

Present Day

After putting on her pajamas, Lisbon opened the bathroom door of Walter's suite before turning the faucet on and washing her face. She heard the door to the room open as she dabbed her face dry with a towel that she noticed was several times softer than the towels in her room had been.

"Teresa," she heard him call out moments before he found her in the restroom. He looked her over appreciatively, then made eye contact. "Well, don't you look cozy?"

She finished drying her face and neck and dropped the towel on the counter. "Don't get any ideas Walter. I'm sleeping on the couch."

"You can't honestly expect me to believe that this was supposed to be an innocent evening when you have your own room in this hotel." He reached up and untied his bowtie. "Unless of course there's more to you and Jane than you'd have me believe?"

She crossed her arms, trying not to cringe as the movement jerked her bruised side. "The only thing between me and Jane is annoyance and the only reason I'm in your room is because I know Jane won't knock on your door."

"Hmm," Walter moved into her personal space. "That's a lot of Jane in your reasoning there, Teresa."

She held her ground despite the fact that he was too close. "Yes, well, if it wasn't for Jane I'd be in my room and then who would you try and seduce?"

He reached up and pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "No one. I didn't invite a date to this thing, because I knew you were going to be here. Don't I get any points for that?" He moved closer until the only thing separating them was her arms crossed between their chests.

She smiled up at him. "Not even one." At that she placed her hands on his chest and pushed past him. He reached out and grabbed her waist as she went by and she yelped. He'd accidently grabbed her bruise. She jerked away from his hand.

"Teresa?" His hand pulled immediately away from her, but he hovered near her until she caught her breath. "What happened?"

She steadied herself with her hand against the frame of the door. "It's nothing," she said avoiding his eye contact as her hand went protectively to her bruised side.

He moved forward again and lifted the hem of her shirt. She was shocked at how brazen he was being, until she looked up and saw his face. He was worried. He pulled her shirt up on the side where the bruise was and was now looking at it with a mixture of concern and horror. "What is this?"

"I got into a fight with a suspect yesterday, it's not a big deal," she said. "This kind of thing happens to me all the time."

His eyes moved from her side to her face and she could see how much this really bothered him, could see that he really did care. It wasn't unlike the time when she'd almost gotten shot protecting him, only more intense, because this time she had been injured. Walter was a good man who for some reason had decided that he liked her, that he wanted her. She'd had sparks with him before and that had been her problem with dating lately, right? No sparks. If she was going to move on she couldn't think of anyone better to try it with than him. Maybe he wasn't Mr. Right, but maybe he could help her pull down the walls that Cho insisted she'd put up.

Before she could think through it, stop herself, she went up on her toes, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He was gentle at first, tentative. His hand and arm near her uninjured side were now firmly wrapped around her body and his other hand still hovered above her bruise. She put her hands inside his jacket as she nipped at his bottom lip and slid it to the floor before she started on the buttons of his shirt.

Their kisses became more frantic and Lisbon forced herself to focus, to enjoy this. Aside from today, she'd barely even had a hug in the last year and she was starved for the contact. She felt his hands slide slowly under her shirt and up her back and waited for the familiar shiver of need to come, but it didn't. He started trailing kisses across her cheek and to her ear and she stopped unbuttoning his shirt.

"Teresa," he moaned into her ear. "I've missed you."

She froze as Jane's face suddenly popped into her head. She pushed Walter back. "I can't do this," she said.

His eyes were dazed and he was breathing hard. It took a minute before he could respond and when he did it was with all seriousness. "Is this about Jane?"

She shook her head. "No," she snapped. "It's just too much." She breathed out. "I'm not just going to hop in your bed every time you come around Walter."

He smiled at her. "Sensible, really. What if I wanted to take you out on a date? Or a series of dates?"

She smirked. "You forget that I live in Sacramento. Whereas you…"

He smiled in return. "You forget that I have a jet."

She shook her head. "You're incorrigible."

"So, if I fly up to Sacramento, will you go out with me?" he asked as he took her hand and kissed it.

"We'll see." She pushed past him. "Goodnight Walter," she said as she made her way to the couch. If she was going to move on, he'd be the one to do it with.

* * *

"What is the likelihood that we would catch a case the moment you walk back in the door?" Rigsby grumbled.

The team hadn't been in the office for more than five minutes when they'd got a case this morning. The team wasn't overwhelmingly thrilled. Apparently they'd all had perfectly nice weekends. Only hers had been a nightmare. She was glad they had a case, because she desperately needed something to take her mind off things. Granted this one had nightmare written all over it with their victim being the head of a multimillion dollar company, the son of a U.S. Senator, and because of the graphic nature of his death, but she wasn't going to worry about that right now.

She looked at her watch as they came off the elevator and walked toward the bullpen. It was already two. "Rigs, Cho, interview the witnesses again. I know they say this was a suicide, but I'm not buying it."

"Right," Cho said as Rigsby nodded.

The entered the bullpen. "Grace, go over surveillance…"

She stopped dead in her tracks, Cho and Van Pelt stopping at her side and Rigsby slamming into the back of her. She winced at the pain this caused her, but it really only barely registered as she took in the scene in front of her.

"Jane!" Van Pelt yelped excitedly.

Jane sat in a wood chair in front of the filing cabinets that had replaced his couch, holding his familiar blue cup and saucer, in his familiar three piece suit, with his legs crossed and a perturbed look on his face. She tried to ignore the sudden thrill she'd felt at seeing him, here of all places. It was almost surreal, almost as if he'd never left, but that feeling only lasted for a second.

Lisbon could see that Jane very much wanted to ignore Grace's enthusiasm, he was upset, but he curbed his anger and made nice. She could feel her lips quirking at the side. It felt good knowing she'd caused his irritation. Really, it only seemed fair.

"Hello Grace," he said pleasantly before smiling at both Cho and Rigsby as well.

Grace stepped forward, probably to give him a hug, but Lisbon blocked her path with her arm and shot her a warning glance.

Jane stood up and placed his tea cup on his chair. "Teresa."

"Patrick," she returned after making eye contact. She could feel Grace and Rigsby wilting a little by her as her and Jane stared at each other. Cho was unfazed and crossed his arms in front of his chest. She continued after a moment. "What are you doing here?"

He placed his hands on his hips under his suit jacket and narrowed his eyes at her. "Where. Is. My. Couch?"

"Oh, it's… Ow." Grace started, but Lisbon nudged her in the ribs with her elbow.

She shrugged. "At the dump," she said over Grace's yelp of pain, "Why?"

Jane's eyes widened at her proclamation and he took a step forward. She knew he would know she was lying, but she liked having this over him. "Liar," he said finally.

Cho stepped forward. "Rigsby and I took to the dump on Saturday," he said. "Isn't that right, Rigsby?"

"What?" Rigsby said staring at Cho before looking at Jane, "Oh, yeah. It's at the dump."

Jane glared.

Lisbon smirked and crossed her arms. "What? We needed a space for the filing cabinets—running out of storage. People just keep killing people."

"Oh please," Jane snarled. "Who really uses filing cabinets these days? Everything is going digital, including the CBI."

Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Now, you're turn," she said adopting her mother knows best voice. "Why are you here?"

She knew he was nowhere near dropping the subject, but could see that he'd decided to leave it be for now and squared his shoulders. "I'm back."

She felt her stomach flip flop and cursed herself internally when it suddenly occurred to her that it was written all over her face. She forced herself to calm down.

"Really?" Grace chirped in again. "That's great, Jane. We've missed you." She moved forward this time and Lisbon didn't bother stopping her. She gave Jane a quick hug. "Sorry about your couch, but your desk is still here."

Jane smiled at her, but looked pained as he stared at the filing cabinets. "Thank you Grace."

"For how long?" Lisbon asked surprising everyone.

"For as long as you'll have me." He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. "La Roche recommended to higher ups that I come back full time, but I told him it depended on what you wanted," he said.

She felt the enormity of his question fall on her shoulders along with the eyes of her entire team. She swallowed and bit the bullet. She couldn't let her personal feelings dictate her professional decisions. "Of course you're welcome back. I'm sure the CBI would be glad to have your closure rates again." At that she turned to Grace. "Grace, why don't you fill Jane in on the case and once you've done that I want you to get a hold of the vic's family and friends."

"Yes boss," Grace said as she looked between her and Jane.

Lisbon noticed Cho give a small shake of his head before he moved to his own desk and suddenly felt guilty. Ultimately this was her decision to make, and while she didn't want Jane in her life again, she felt she'd made the decision she would have had she not been emotionally attached to Jane. Still, maybe she should've asked the team. Or just Cho. She knew Grace and Rigsby wouldn't care, but Cho had seen her at her worse, because of Jane.

She made her way to her office before anyone could stop her, resolving to stick Jane with Rigsby and Van Pelt until she and Cho could deal with him more rationally. She suspected Cho would be fine by tomorrow. She, however, would need more time than that. A lot more time.

* * *

Jane harrumphed as he watched Teresa walk calmly off to her office. She was good at putting on "boss" when she needed it, but he knew she wasn't happy and this made him unhappy. When he imagined his homecoming, if he was being honest with himself, she'd never run into his arms, but she'd at least smiled at him because she was happy to see him, not because she'd hidden his couch in some place or another.

Grace started explaining the case to him and he gave her about thirty seconds before stalking off after Lisbon. He knew she wanted space, and maybe he should give it to her, but he _was _back and she would have to get used to that sooner rather than later, especially for what he had in mind for her, for them. Besides hadn't they had enough time apart already? He heard Grace make some noise in protest before he was out of the bullpen and pushing open Teresa's office doors.

She looked up at him from desk, eyes wide. "Jane? What?"

He allowed the door to shut behind him and stopped in place to decide what he was going to say first. He had a lot of things on his mind, but he forced himself to be rational and strategic. "What happened to you?"

She blinked several times. "I…I moved on."

He was around her desk and pulling her out of her chair before she knew what was going on. He moved her round to the edge of her desk and thanked his lucky stars that she'd shut the blinds or she would never let this happen. He encouraged her to sit on the edge of her desk before he reached for her shirt and pulled the hem from her pants.

"Jane," she gasped, grabbing for his hands, but he swatted them away. "What are you doing?"

His hands were on her skin in a moment and soon after his eyes. He took in the large black, blue and purple bruise that covered her ribs and side and slid his fingers softly over it. She shivered under his touch, but not from pain.

"Stop it," she said as she tried only halfheartedly to push him away.

He didn't move, but made eye contact. "Well this explains why you've been cringing every time some touches since Saturday." He looked back at her bruise and traced it with his fingers. "This is recent. You must have gotten it right before you went to Malibu." He looked up again.

Her expression was shocked as she nodded, but she shook herself out of her daze and forced a reply. "Yes, I tackled a suspect and he elbowed me in the ribs." Her eyes sparkled with mirth. "Apparently he didn't want to spend life in prison."

Jane moved his eyes continuously from her side to her face and back again. Torn between the horror he felt at seeing her marred so badly and knowing she was in pain and the awestruck look on her face as she allowed him to continue touching her. He thought she would've pushed him away by now, but she hadn't and appeared completely content to allow him to continue his gentle ministrations.

"It still hurts?" he asked even though he knew the answer.

"Yes," she said.

"Hmm," he hummed. "I have something that'll help with the pain. I'll bring it to you tomorrow." At that he lowered her shirt and backed away from her, only realizing then that he'd practically pinned her to her desk. He moved to the couch, fisting his hands in his pockets to keep from pinning her to her desk again and kissing her senseless. What they both needed now was some semblance of consistency and balance and while he was desperate to kiss her he thought for sure that the last thing that would accomplish would be any kind of balance.

He kept himself from smiling as he watched her take a deep breath to calm herself and then watched her tuck her shirt back in. When she turned to face him, she had her business face on again. "I thought I told you to have Van Pelt catch you up?"

"Actually you told Van Pelt to catch me up and ignored me completely and since I've never been one to follow rules, especially ones pertaining to other people, I thought I'd come in here for a quick chat," he said sitting down on the couch and patting the cushion next to him.

For a split second he saw the unmistakable look of longing on her face, before she hardened it and sat in the chair in front of her desk. Leave it to Lisbon to make this as difficult as possible for him. "All right, that's probably a good idea. There are things that need to be said."

He smiled at her as she took charge. "By all means."

"For starters I want you to know that I don't want you on my team, but as a law enforcement professional I would be a fool to turn your services down, even though I don't expect you to stay around, so you're welcome back under a few conditions," she said straightening her posture to match her confidence as she spoke.

"And they are?" He tried to affect a professional expression. Wanted her to know he could take her seriously, even though he was finding that being in the same room as her completely distracting. Being away from her for a year really had made his heart grow fonder, plus, he conceded that her trying to keep him at a distance only made him want to be in her personal space all the more.

She cleared her throat. "I'm your boss again, which means that when I give you a direct order I expect you to follow it."

He nodded, knowing full well that he'd continue on as he had before he left and knowing that she knew this as well.

"Also this," she signaled between the two of them, "is to remain completely professional. I don't want you bringing me coffee or bear claws in the morning, helping me in and out of my jacket, sleeping on my couch, or any other such nonsense that was normal before."

He leaned forward and made eye contact. "What about presents?"

She shook her head. "I don't want them."

"Can I open doors for you?"

She breathed out an irritated breath. "Anything that you would do for anyone else is fine."

"So I guess hugs, hand holding, and kissing are out then?" he asked flippantly.

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous."

"You're the one who's being ridiculous here," he said.

"Why don't you tact on being patronizing to the list," she snapped.

"Soulful gazes?" he whispered.

She blushed and looked at the carpet breaking the eye contact they'd been holding for several minutes. "Why are you here, Jane?"

"You know exactly why I'm here, I told you before I left a year ago." He stood up. "I hadn't intended on being gone so long, Teresa. I would've been back sooner if I could've, and I might have anyway if I'd known you'd end up so angry with me…"

"I'm not angry with you. I've just moved on," she said standing herself. "A year is a long time."

"It's not that long," he said stepping forward, so that there were only a few feet between them. "I want my job back. I want to work with you and the team again, but I came back for you. I don't want you mistaking that." He saw her swallow and took another step forward. "As a sign of good faith I told La Roche that I would stay for one case and then he would have to talk to you about whether or not I can stay on, and I will follow your silly rules until you tell me otherwise. Despite the fact that you've hidden my couch from me."

She held her chin high and he almost regretted the promise as the sudden urge to kiss her came to the forefront again.

"Thank you," she said with a mixture of disappointment and relief etched over her features. "Now, go have Van Pelt fill you in."

"Sure thing, boss." He smiled at the way she bristled at his use of the term "boss". She wasn't a lost cause yet.

* * *

**A/N: Anonymous Reviews**

**Guest: Walter does play a part in the story, but it'll have a good ending I assure you. :)**

**Ilovetea: Thank you! What a nice compliment. Jane is going to have his work cut out for him, I think, but there'll be good things along the way for both of them also. **

**Guest: The part where jane went into the ladies room, I have to say, caught me off guard even a little, but I think you're right, Jane would do something like that. I'm glad you liked it. And I don't think you're the only one who feels the way you do about Walter. Haha! **

**Guest: I try really hard to keep the characters IC, and this just seemed like how Lisbon might react to the situation. There's more backstory to come though. I'm glad you're enjoying it! **

**Guest: Wow! Thank you! That's makes me feel great. I'm glad you're enjoying the writing! **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry about the wait everyone. I was writing last week when my computer crashed and I lost a page and for some reason it took me for ever to want to redue it and also I saw this weeks preview and got all weird, the result being that this took me forever. Yikes. **

**Also, I didn't respond to anonymous reviews for chapter two at the end of chapter three because I was at Disneyland at the time I posted it and simply forgot. Sorry about that. However, I have now put responses to anonymous reviews for chapter two at the end of chapter three for those kind people reviewed and don't have accounts.**

**Finally, I had someone point out that there is another story called Post Red and that I should change the name of mine because it's confusing. If I do, it'll still be Post Red, it'll just have a tag after that. Just a heads up... **

* * *

Chapter 4

It had been a good feeling, Lisbon conceded, seeing Jane's face when she'd left with Cho later that night. She'd seen him right after Cho had come into her office, taken her jacket from the coat hanger and had handed it to her. She'd gathered her stuff as Cho waited patiently for her and the two had walked out of the office to see Jane standing just out of the kitchen with his light blue tea cup paused half way up to his mouth with his brow furrowed. She'd had to suppress a smile as she waved goodbye to Rigsby and Van Pelt before heading to the elevator.

However, now that the two of them were sitting at her dining room table munching on several boxes of Chinese food, while discussing their case, she wasn't so sure it was that funny anymore. Cho was being deliberately avoidant. She much preferred it when he just said what was on his mind. She forced herself to listen to him while deciding that she'd have to weasel it out of him, or this was going to be a very unpleasant week.

"I don't think Max James' girlfriend is smart enough to have poisoned him with Cyanide or vicious enough," Cho said taking a bit of eggroll.

"Celia? She has motive though, so I don't want to rule her out all together." Lisbon agreed with him, but procedure was important and she couldn't count the number of times they'd been fooled by a clever performance.

He nodded. "So does his wife, Veronica," Cho said. "And I'd be more likely to believe she did it than the girlfriend. Did you see Celia? I wasn't in the interrogation room for more than a minute before she turned into a blathering mess—I hadn't even said anything yet."

Lisbon repressed a chuckle. She was pretty sure Celia had started crying because he hadn't said anything. Cho underestimated how intimidating his "Ice Man" routine could be. She grabbed the container with the chow mien and shoveled a good portion onto her paper plate.

"I think you're right, but I'll feel better about her after we've checked her alibi," Lisbon said as she grabbed several noodles with her chopsticks and dangled them into her mouth.

Cho grabbed the General Tao's chicken and started eating from the box.

"Stop that," Lisbon scolded him, pointing her chopsticks in his direction for emphasis. "It's gross."

He grabbed another piece and sat the box down. "Please," he said without looking at her while dishing a few pot stickers on to his plate, "you ate off of my fork after you stole it from me last week, when we were at that pub."

She scowled as she grabbed another container. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss how domestic that seemed. It gave her pause.

"What is it?" Cho asked, noticing her stop halfway through dishing out the Moo Shu Pork.

She shook her head lightly. "Nothing," she said glancing at him sideways. She sat the container down, grabbed her soda and took a nervous gulp.

"I think Jane was right about the wife," Cho said jumping back on topic. "She's hiding something. I know her alibi is solid, but I think we should check it out personally tomorrow."

She swallowed. "All right. So," she looked down at her plate and pushed her food around with her chopsticks, "what do you think about bringing Jane back?"

"It was a smart move professionally," Cho said before taking another bite. "He closes cases."

Lisbon rested her hands on the edge of the table. "What about personally?"

Cho sighed, sat his chopsticks down and looked at her. "Okay—if you can keep it professional."

She felt her brow furrow. "You don't think I can?" She grabbed the General Tao's chicken and plucked a piece out with her chopsticks.

"I think you'll try," Cho told her as she put the chicken in her mouth. "But he's in love with you…"

She chocked on her bite effectively silencing whatever he was going to say with her coughing.

"Easy," he said as he reached over and patted her back. He then picked up her soda and handed it to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said gasping. "It just went down the wrong tube." She took a sip of her drink and calmed her coughs.

"You good?"

She nodded then proved it by inhaling deeply. "I can keep it professional," she spat so unexpectedly she surprised them both.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "That wasn't a personal attack. Jane is very persuasive. He usually gets what he wants. If that's not what you want…?"

She shook her head immediately. "No."

Cho breathed out. "Then you need to have a plan to dissuade him."

She covered her mouth and coughed once more. "I have one."

He raised his brow. "Moving on?"

She nodded.

"Did you take the white dress with you when you went to Malibu, or did you leave it in your closet," he asked.

She pulled her chin back, hadn't been expecting that. "I took it," she lied immediately.

"So, if I go upstairs and look it won't be at the back of the closet with the tag still on it?"

She shook her head.

Cho stood up.

She grabbed his arm. "All right, all right," she hissed. "I didn't take it, but I am trying to move on. I swear it."

He sat back down. "How?"

She fidgeted under his gaze. "I stayed the night in Walter Mashburn's hotel while I was in Malibu."

Cho looked down uncomfortably and Lisbon had the urge to hide under the table.

"I didn't sleep with him," she said quickly. She hadn't meant for it to sound like that. She groaned internally. "I was hiding from Jane."

He raised his brow at her and she realized that she hadn't told him anything that had happened. It had completely slipped her mind. They were closer friends now than ever before, but they really didn't talk about their romantic relationships. And now she was talking about two men who she'd had feelings for with him and it felt like some parallel universe.

"Hiding from Jane?" He looked worried.

She shook her head. "It's not what you think," she tried to assuage his concern. Last thing she needed was for Cho to think that he needed to protect her from Jane. Especially if Jane was going to be coming back. "He was just Jane, you know how he is. He tried to talk to me and I didn't want to, so I went to Walter's room. But I slept on the couch."

She saw him visibly relax.

"I had a point," she told him. "Walter asked if he could take me out…"

Cho's brow furrowed. "He doesn't live here."

"He's down this week… for business," she lied quickly. "He's taking me to dinner tomorrow."

Cho shook his head, but picked up his chopsticks and the General Tao's chicken from in front of her and took a piece out. "He's not exactly Mr. Right, is he?"

She slouched. "No, but I like him, he's fun and I think that he's a good person to get me out of this funk I'm in. I might not move on with him, but I could see him helping me move on."

Cho looked her in the eye. "Just be careful."

She smiled lightly at him. "I will."

"You know Jane followed us here, right?"

She slouched dramatically. "I am a detective," she said feigning offense, "and he drives a baby blue Citroen. Not that it matters, I'm sure he knows we know."

"Yeah probably," Cho said after finishing off his eggroll. "Want me to stay the night?"

"No," she said indignantly. She felt her cheeks flame as he stared at her stone faced. Blast him. "Yes please."

"Relax," he paused and looked up at her. "You didn't really think my car was broken down, did you?"

Her jaw dropped. They'd left together because he said his car wouldn't start.

"I figured you'd want a buffer, but would be too stubborn to ask for it," he finished.

She glared then swatted him on the shoulder. "Subterfuge."

He smiled and reached for her noodles with his chopsticks. "You finished with that?"

* * *

"Jane, back off," Lisbon snarled at Jane as he followed her up to the door of Max James's home. She stopped and turned on him.

He held back a smile and pointed to the path. "It's a tiny path, Lisbon, and I haven't touched you once as per your demands. Be reasonable."

"Just take a step back and walk behind me," she ordered as she walked away from him once more. He did as he was told, but still stayed close behind her and finally allowed a grin to take over his face. So far it'd been a good day. He'd started it off by bringing coffee and donuts in for the entire team, making sure to let her know none of it was for her, had avoided her office couch, but had made himself very comfortable on the chair across from her desk, and had made sure to get close enough to her on several occasions that it'd be more than easy to touch, but never touched stating all was per her mandates in the office yesterday. She'd wanted to strangle him several times, but a lot of her frustration had been because he wasn't touching her, just getting close enough to drive her crazy.

Despite her irritation, he'd felt rather proud that he'd been able to get her to let him tag along with her to the James's home. Sure he was a master manipulator, but regardless of her complaint that a year had left her more in the dark about him than ever before, he was still pretty sure she'd have her guard up; she did know him better than anyone so she'd know what to look for. Besides, he didn't really want to manipulate her. Play with her maybe, but only in good fun of course. And it would only be good fun if she ended up with him, where she belonged.

He knew she was feeling bold after having allowed Cho to sleep at her apartment last night. She shouldn't have felt that way. He knew better. Regardless of what message she was trying to convey and despite the fact that there was a fairly substantial bet going in the office that Cho and Lisbon were sleeping together, he knew it was completely ludicrous. Cho would never sleep with Lisbon.

He and Lisbon hadn't done much talking the entire ride and what they did talk about was entirely case related. He didn't mind, it was all about baby steps. Still, he had to admit, his teasing her with "almost touches" was becoming increasingly bothersome for him as well. He had to force himself to keep his hands at his side as they walked up to the front door, and not bring a hand up to the small of her back. He decided he was going to have to come up with a way to expedite the process, because he really wanted to touch.

When she stopped abruptly at the door he slammed into the back of her and grabbed her waist to steady himself. He felt a chill run up his spine at their proximity and the feel of her hips under his palms as he breathed in the fresh citrusy smell of her. She stiffened. He dropped his hands and rolled back on his heels, half expecting her to turn on him with an angry glare and biting remark. He decided to head off her fury. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going."

She pulled her gun and he grimaced before taking a step back. She didn't turn on him though, and that's when he noticed his surroundings. He peeked around her and saw her eyes fastened on the slightly ajar door. He'd been so focused on Lisbon that he hadn't noticed it was open as they were walking up. Granted it was barely open, but he never missed that stuff. She scooted forward with her gun raised and pushed the door the rest of the way open.

"Mrs. James?" she called. She stepped into the house and he followed. "Hello? Is anyone here? This is Agent Teresa Lisbon with the CBI."

"Uh, Lisbon," Jane whispered as they moved further into the foyer. "Don't you think we should call for back up?" She gave him a dirty look and he raised his hands as if in surrender. "I was just asking." Sure he'd been gone a year, but if his memory severed him correctly, and he was more than positive it did, open doors at the homes of murder suspects were never a good thing.

She pushed into the first door she came upon on the right and stopped. "Crap," she said as she moved forward and dropped to her knees. Jane moved in behind her and saw that she was kneeling in front of a female body. The woman was a little taller than Lisbon with auburn hair that covered her face, she was wearing a gray skirt suit and her head was lying in a puddle of bright red blood. Jane noted a candlestick lying on the floor next to the woman also covered in blood.

Lisbon checked for a pulse. She pulled a mat of hair off of the woman's face, then glanced up at Jane who was feeling decidedly queasy. Not unlike the first time he'd ever seen a body.

"Who is it?" he asked.

She sighed. "My primary suspect."

* * *

Cho and Rigsby circled the body, while Lisbon filled them in on what she and Jane had found earlier. Cho bent down to retrieve the candlestick and shoved it into a plastic bag. Jane thought of what he'd normally be doing at times like this. Probably making himself a cup of tea, and he should probably do that, but he was still feeling a little nauseous. It had never occurred to him that he had built up a resistance to dead bodies, and that a year away would affect that resistance.

"Death by bludgeoning?" Rigsby said as he looked at Veronica James's smashed in skull. "What a way to go."

Jane took a deep breath and looked away from the body. "Sorry Colonel Mustard," he breathed out in Rigsby's direction. "But Miss Scarlet was not killed in the library with the candlestick." His voice had taken on a decidedly cranky tone. Rigsby bristled, Cho and Lisbon ignored him.

Cho stood up with the candlestick, in baggy, in hand and lifted it for Jane's scrutiny. "How do you figure?"

Jane cringed away from the weapon that he could now see had what looked to be hair and brain matter clumped on it. "Guh," he forced bile back down his throat and continued, "she was poisoned just like Max. Her blood is cherry red and her skin has taken on a pink hue." He looked back at Lisbon who was now scrutinizing the body. "Both are signs of strychnine poisoning."

Lisbon looked up at him, right as he looked down at the body again, then covered his eyes with his hand. "You all right there, Professor Plum?" she dead panned then smirked when he looked up at her.

He smiled in return, then breathed out again. "It's been awhile since I've seen a body…" He just needed to keep breathing.

"You saw the pictures of Max James yesterday," Rigsby pointed out sounding confused.

He looked at Rigsby. "That wasn't in person. This is very different, I assure you," Jane said before waving at the team to follow him into the hall. He didn't miss the amused looks Cho and Lisbon passed each other as they went with him. Rigsby stayed with the body.

"So why two different methods? Strychnine is extremely deadly. If they'd already given her the strychnine when they went after her with the candlestick wouldn't that imply they were making sure she was dead?" Lisbon asked as she glanced between Cho and Jane.

"Or maybe one person poisoned her and another person, not knowing she'd been poisoned smashed her skull in," Cho offered before resting his hands on his hips.

Jane took another deep breath. "Hey!" Jane glared at Cho. "Enough with the smashed skull please."

"You sure you want to come back and work with us?" Lisbon asked in a less than friendly voice, filled with mirth.

"You really want to talk about this now?" Jane raised his brow at her. Cho looked away. She swallowed. "No," she said quietly.

Jane rolled back on his heels and looked her in the eye. She didn't flinch away even though he could see she very much wanted to—his feisty Lisbon. "Thank you. It was neither, by the way. They weren't trying to make sure she was dead and there weren't two killers. Whoever did this was hoping the latter would disguise the poisoning."

Lisbon pulled her chin back. "That doesn't make any sense," she said. "Why cover up the poisoning here, but not with Max James?"

Cho looked in the direction of the room. "Well, they had hoped the first would look like a suicide. A bunch of people watched him put pills in his water and then drink it right before he suffocated to death."

Jane smiled. "Excellent observation, Cho. And you're right, whoever did this didn't kill Max. It was someone else entirely."

Cho stared blankly at Jane. "I didn't say that."

Jane pointed at him. "But you would have come to that conclusion soon enough."

"Wait, two killers who both use strychnine?" Lisbon asked. "That's not likely is it?"

Jane nodded. "Not unless the second was a revenge killing," Jane explained. He turned then and walked out the front door. It wasn't a moment before Lisbon was at his side. He placed his hands on his knees and took one last breath before standing tall. "Lisbon…?

"I'll go easy on you because you're nauseous…" she started.

He made eye contact. "Finally."

She continued, "but I can't work like this. I know you've figured something out. So either share with the rest of the class or I'll tell LaRoche to find you another team to work with."

He sighed. He was no longer sick, just frustrated. He felt his brow furrow. "It's just a gut feeling…"

She placed her hands on her hips. "And if you were anyone else I'd let it slip, but you're not. You're Jane, and your gut feelings have led us to more killers than most cops detective skills. So spill."

He felt a broad smile cover his face. "Why, thank you Lisbon."

She glared.

"I'd be happy to tell you anything you want to know, Teresa, but I've told you before that if I tell you about every hunch I ever get, you'd get very annoyed," he explained.

"I'll tell you when and if it gets annoying," she told him in her angry boss voice.

He held back a smile. "It's just what I said. I think this was a revenge killing. Whoever did this thought Veronica was responsible for Max's death."

"That makes Celia… the girlfriend, a suspect again."

Jane lifted a finger to his lips and tapped them.

"Wait here," she said pointing at the ground in front of her. She then turned and walked back into the house as Jane moved forward and stood exactly where she'd pointed. A moment later she was back out of the house and walking toward him. "Come on, we're going back to the office," she said as she passed him. "Cho and Rigsby will finish up here."

"Yes ma'am," Jane said before doing an about face and following her with cocky grin. He stopped abruptly once again, this time managing not to slam into the back of her, when she stopped as a man came running up the path. Several uniformed policemen were chasing him, guns aloft, yelling at him to stop.

Lisbon took their cue and pulled her gun, aiming it at the approaching man. "Stop, sir," she ordered.

The man slowed and Jane was able to get a good look at him. He was wearing a finely tailored suit, had salt and pepper hair, was tall and skinny and looked harried. It was Max James's business partner, Harold Mead.

"Is it Veronica?" Harold asked as he stopping a few feet from them, but still looked up into the house. "Is she dead?"

The other officer's stopped as well, and Lisbon nodded at them.

"Sir, I need you to calm down and tell us what you're doing here," Lisbon said.

An officer behind him moved a little closer. "He just shoved my partner and ran past us," the officer said.

Jane moved next to Lisbon and saw her roll her eyes as she looked back at Harold. "Mr. Mead, what are you doing here?"

"Yes, Veronica James is dead," Jane confirmed than watched Harold's reaction carefully. He saw the anxiousness and anger mixed together across his features, and the way he was staring into the house with desperation.

"I knew it," Harold said under his breath.

Jane inched forward. "How? Did you kill her?"

"No!" Harold yelled, turning his attention from the house and to Jane. "Of course not. James and Veronica have been my best friends since college!"

Lisbon took her cue from Jane. "How'd you know she was dead, Mr. Mead?" she asked, gun still aloft. "We only just found out ourselves."

"I guessed," he said looking anxious. "I pulled up and there were cop cars everywhere."

"Ah," Jane said. "You killed them." Lisbon quickly glanced over her shoulder at him. "First you killed Max James, that way you could have controlling interest in the company?" Harold's jaw tightened. "Then you killed poor Veronica here, I'm not sure why. Maybe she found out what you did and you had to silence her. But not to worry the truth will come out eventually, I suspect."

The man's face dropped and he lunged at Jane, punching him in the temple. Jane vision went black for a second as he fell backward. When he hit the ground with a thud he saw Lisbon grab Harold's free arm and twist it behind his back, before pushing him to the ground and kneeling on his back.

"I didn't kill Veronica!" Harold yelled. "You bastard. I'll kill you!"

Lisbon clapped handcuffs on him. "Yes he is, but he's our bastard. If anyone is going to kill him, it's going to be me." At that she pulled him to his feet. "Cho," she yelled toward the house. As Lisbon read Harold his rights Cho came running out of the house and slowed when he saw Jane sprawled over the path and lawn.

"Jane, are you all right?" Cho asked as he ran up.

"Oh yeah," he sighed. "I just need a minute."

Lisbon shoved Harold toward Cho. "Take him back to CBI."

Cho nodded and gave Jane a wary glance before walking off with Harold. Lisbon came over and squatted next to Jane. If it hadn't been for the throbbing pain and stars dancing across his vision, he might have felt pleased at the nervous look she was giving him.

"Are you okay?" she asked after a moment.

He closed his eyes briefly, then looked over at her. "It's been awhile since anyone's hit me. I'd forgotten how much it hurts."

She chuckled. "Just like old times, huh?"

* * *

Lisbon had taken Jane directly back to the CBI and had led him into her office, before helping him sit down on her couch. She'd wanted to take him to the emergency room, afraid that he might have a concussion, but he'd refused and she wasn't in the mood to fight with him. Fighting wouldn't start a good precedence for there working relationship, if it was to continue, that was.

She'd left him there, in a hurry, to go see if Cho had gotten anywhere with Harold Mead, but the most they'd gotten was a request for a lawyer who had already arrived by the time she'd gotten back with Jane. They didn't have any proof of Jane's claims and were going to have to cut Mead loose unless Jane decided to press charges. She slouched, had had enough of Jane today, but knew she was going to need to ask him what he wanted to do. She went to her office, stopping at the kitchen for glass of water, pain meds and an icepack first.

When she stepped into her office, she was surprised to see the shades closed and the lights off, and immediately panicked when she saw Jane resting with his head against the back of the couch with his eyes closed. If he had a concussion falling asleep could kill him.

"Jane," she yelped the instant she stepped in her office and saw him.

He moaned. "Teresa, keep it down would you, my head is killing me."

She sighed, then sat the glass of water and bottle of pain meds on her desk, before turning on her desk light. He cringed away from it. "You can't sleep Jane, you might have a concussion."

"I don't have a concussion, just a headache," he mumbled.

She shook her head and went to sit next to him on the couch, breaking up the icepack as she went. He opened his eyes as she sat next to him, at a safe distance, but kept his head resting on the back of the couch. "Did you become a doctor while you were gone?" she asked.

He furrowed his brow. "Don't be silly," he said.

"Then stop diagnosing yourself. Here," she reached up and placed the icepack on the side of his face, none too gently. He hissed at the contact. "Sorry." She pulled the bag back and replaced it with a little more finesse.

She was expecting him to reach up and take the bag from her, but instead he leaned his head into the pack and closed his eyes again. He hummed lightly in his throat, as she supported the weight of his head and instantly felt a chill go up her spine that had nothing to do with the ice pack.

She cleared her throat. "Jane, I'm not your nurse maid…"

She saw a small smile spread over his lips. "Could have fooled me with the icepack, the pain killers and the water you brought for me. And I'm sure you'd look lovely in a nurses' uniform."

She ignored him and gently shoved the icepack against his head, just enough to jostle him a tiny little bit. "Take this, I don't want to sit her holding up your ego inflated head."

He chuckled and glanced over at her with a wicked gleam in his eye, while at the same time lifting the hand closest to her to take the icepack. He took the pack from her, but grabbed her hand before she could pull it too far away him. He dropped the icepack in his lap and grabbed her hand with both of his bringing her hand up to cup his face. She froze.

"Your hand feels better than the icepack." He made eye contact briefly and she could see that he was practically daring her to look away and she knew if she were going to pull her hand back now would be the time. But she didn't, she felt as though all her motor abilities had somehow stopped functioning. He shut his eyes and leaned into her touch. "So much better," he crooned and then he started humming softly again.

She swallowed the thick lump forming in her throat and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. This was exactly the kind of thing she was trying to discourage, and here she was passively allowing it, but it couldn't be helped. She knew the reasons why they shouldn't be together, knew he'd moved on, knew she needed to, but it felt good to have this moment. After a year of wondering where he was and what he was doing and if he was missing her at all, and if he was even still alive, it was nice to feel his skin under her palm, nice to feel the beat of his pulse near her wrist and to feel him breathing—so she indulged.

Today had been all to similar to before he'd left, even down to his obvious attempts to irk her—she knew he thought he was being clever. Maybe he was, because here she was sitting a person away from him on the couch in her office, with the lights low, the blinds shut, and now she realized that the door had swung shut as well, _and_ she was touching him. Still, it wasn't likely that Jane had gotten himself punched to finagle this moment into happening. Then again, he was Jane.

Her brow furrowed at the thought and she remembered two things. First that he had said he'd come back for her, and if that was true, if she was his first priority right now, then it wouldn't be at all hard to believe that Jane had done this on purpose. Second was her conversation with Cho last night. It hadn't been a full day and already she was succumbing. She felt her lips purse and her hand twitch against his skin.

She was about to pull away when he unexpectedly turned his face into her palm and planted a kiss in it, nuzzling it lightly after. She stiffened and immediately found her voice in the same instant that she ripped her hand from his grasp. She saw his eyes open right as she stood up from the couch and made her way to her desk. She didn't stop until it was safely set between the two of them.

"Lisbon?" his voice sounded truly quizzical and she hated herself for her moment of weakness.

She decided to pretend nothing had happened and turned to face him after hardening her expression. "We don't have enough proof to keep Harold Mead here for the murders so we're going to let him go, unless of course you'd like to press charges?"

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. "We can't hold him over night for any other reason?"

"No," she answered.

His brow furrowed. "Yes, I'll press charges then."

She placed one hand on her hip. "What are you up to? I really don't think you think he's guilty, so unless you're just pissed at him for hitting you I can't see any other reason why you'd want us to keep him."

He smiled at her, then suddenly he looked very sad before he relaxed his expression. "I'm pissed at him. I'm going to have a throbbing headache for days."

She felt a small pang for him, knowing what he said was true, but also felt a familiar nervousness building in her gut. He was definitely up to something. "Whatever. Listen, I'm heading out soon, but tomorrow, headache or not the rules are in place again. And I don't want you sleeping in my office tonight." She felt her brow furrow as something occurred to her. "Where are you," she stopped short. She didn't need to know where he was staying.

He leaned forward and looked at her. "Yes?"

She cleared her throat. "Take a couple painkillers if you're head's still hurting," she said pointing to the bottle of meds and glass of water on her desk. He seemed disappointed. "And don't sleep tonight if you can avoid it."

"Yes ma'am," he said with a little smile. "What are your plans for the evening?"

She was irritated that he'd asked. Hadn't she told him that their relationship was to remain professional? Still, the answer might be just what he'd need to back off. "I'm going out with Walter."

She watched as Jane stiffened very noticeably on the couch and felt a mixture of pride and guilt.

"Ah, the competition," he said. "Relax Lisbon, I won't lecture you. You feel a need to prove to me that you've moved on, and who better to do that with than someone you were once intimate with. But don't think for one second that this news, upsetting though it may be, will dissuade me from trying to win you back. If anything it will only encourage me to try harder."

She felt her jaw tightening and her hands clutch into fists. "Of course you know I slept with Walter," she said shaking in her effort to control her anger. "You would, but you should also know that I stayed with him on Saturday night as well."

"I know," he said looking briefly at his hands. "I saw you leave your room and knew exactly where you were going. I'd hoped you'd come to your senses when you saw me at your door and remember what we had."

Her jaw dropped and she felt a sudden urge to throw her stapler at him. "We never had anything you egotistical jerk," she barked, "and even if we had you made it more than clear that it didn't mean that much."

"Teresa?" he said sounding truly quizzical.

She turned and grabbed her jacket from the coat hanger. "I'll let Cho know you want to press charges. Make sure you eat a good meal tonight and take it easy. I'm sure we have a busy day with whatever it is you have planned. And if I hear you stayed the night in the building, you'll be off the team instantly." At that, she turned and headed out of her office and in the direction of interrogation.

* * *

Cho pulled up to the curb in front of a gray bungalow with a pitched roof, white siding and shutters that he'd gotten to know fairly well over the last few months, and parked. After Lisbon had given him instructions on Mead and left, he'd stayed an extra hour before heading out himself. He'd planned on going straight home, but he could tell that Lisbon had been angry when she'd left and worried that Jane had a concussion, even he felt a little worried about that. After his talk with her last night he knew it was only going to get worse between her and Jane unless he said something. So he'd made the ten minute drive from the office to here.

He walked up the path and past the nicely manicured lawn and garden then took the steps to the front door two at a time and knocked. He placed his hands on his hips as he waited and looked down the street. There were lots of trees and a family two houses down and across the street were unloading groceries from the car. He smiled as a little boy who appeared to be about four or five attempted to retrieve a watermelon from the car that was nearly as big as he was. His dad came around the car just in time to stop a disaster.

The sound of a door creaking open brought his attention back.

"Cho? What a nice surprise," Jane said as he held an icepack wrapped in a towel to his face. He then stood back so he could come in. "I was just about to make myself a cup of tea, would you like one?"

"Sure," Cho said as he stepped into the living room and waited for Jane to shut the door. "You should fix that squeak." He pointed to the door. "I'm surprised you haven't already. Is the back door still squeaking too?"

Jane nodded then made for the kitchen with Cho at his heel. "Yes, all the doors squeak. I know Red John's gone, but I sleep better knowing my doors have built in alarms anyway."

When they entered the kitchen Cho took a seat at the bar as Jane made his way to the stove, pulling the kettle that was now whistling from the burner. Jane opened one of the white cupboards and pulled out two mugs then looked at Cho. "What kind of tea would you like? I'm having clover honey."

Cho sighed. "That's fine. Listen, we need to talk."

Jane put the tea bags in each mug and added milk to his own, but not to Cho's, before pouring the hot water over them both. He then turned and made his way to Cho and handed him his tea. "I figured. Should I call for takeout?"

Cho crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the line of tile and hardwood floor that separated the kitchen from the dining area and living room. He'd wanted to be quick, but he hadn't eaten in hours and Jane still owed him for helping him sand and stain the floors. "All right. I want pizza, but not from the last place we ordered from, I want it from the one that delivers in the orange car."

Jane smiled and rolled back on his heels. "Excellent choice."

"And you're paying."

"Naturally," Jane said as he took a sip of his tea.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, who saw that coming? Haha. **

**Anonymous Reviews: **

**Guest: Thank you! **

**Guest: I like Walter, not so much with Lisbon...ahem...not that I want to give anything away. Ha! I'm glad you're enjoying cho in this, all though there may be some mixed feelings after this chapter. Sorry for the wait!**

**Ilovetea: Your "morning lecture"? Haha! That was cute. As you'll have seen from this chapter, Jane definitely has his own ideas about the rules. Thanks for the review!**

**fmd-jade: Whoa! Such violence. All though if Jane needed a good punching I'm sure Cho would be happy to oblige. maybe I'll give Jane some slack though after this chapter. Haha! Thanks for the compliment. I do try so hard to keep them IC, so thanks for that! **


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